National rice land use planning to 2020

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is submitting to the Government for approval the “National master plan for rice land use until 2020, vision to 2030,” with the goal of ensuring the maintenance of 3.8 million hectares of rice land; of which 3.2 million hectares of rice land with two or more crops, have a complete irrigation system.

The highlight of the planning is that the use of rice land must ensure consistency and conformity in scale and location of rice land arrangement with the national land use planning, in order to ensure national food security associated with the process of industrialization and modernization of the country.

Illustration photo: VNA

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in addition to using rice land economically and effectively, minimizing the conversion of rice land to other uses, the planning also relies on the strong application of scientific and technological achievements, combined with irrigation investment to promote intensive farming and increase crops.

Rice land use planning is associated with the implementation of policies to protect, manage and develop rice land; support policies for rice producers; policies for localities in specialized rice production planning areas..., creating motivation for rice production to develop, improving people's lives and the interests of rice-growing localities.

Through the synthesis of reports on the current status of rice land in 63 provinces and centrally-run cities and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, by 2010 the total rice land area of ​​the whole country was nearly 4.1 million hectares.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment plans to allocate planning until 2020, rice land used for rice production to ensure national food security in both the short and long term is 3.81 million hectares; of which 3.22 million hectares of rice land for two or more crops have a complete irrigation system.

It is estimated that the loss of rice land due to the impact of climate change by 2010 will be 5,700 hectares and by 2030 it will be 19,900 hectares. The above rice land planning will be allocated to each region: Northern midland and mountainous region; Red River Delta; North Central region; South Central coastal region; Central Highlands; Southeast region and Mekong River Delta. Of these, the rice land planning for the Mekong River Delta region needs to be maintained until 2020, with a vision to 2030, which is the largest, reaching more than 1.83 million hectares.

According to the assessment of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the period 200-2010, although there was no separate rice land use plan, rice land use plan was considered important in the general land use plan of the whole country and localities.

From 2000 to now, although rice land has decreased, land quality has improved, the utilization coefficient has increased due to investment in irrigation development and science and technology, especially rice varieties, so productivity has increased by an average of 2.45%/year.

The conversion of low-yield, unstable single-crop rice land to aquaculture, industrial crops, and fruit trees has been effective. The output value of one hectare of aquaculture is often 4-7 times higher than that of a rice crop; similarly, the output value of industrial crops and fruit trees is also 2-3 times higher than that of single-crop rice land.

According to VNA